


I'd like to know you.

by ToxicPineapple



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Childhood Friends, Disgustingly sweet, F/M, Fluff, Fluffy conversations, Love Hotel, Mentions of Sex, No sex in the fic, Shuichi's Love Hotel Event, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also Kaede lacks tact in the best of times, implied romantic feelings, mutual pining (?), that tag is just there due to the nature of the love hotel itself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 14:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19947859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: From what Kaede understands of the Love Hotel, the way it works is that it puts the key-holder in a scenario where they’re in the other person’s fantasy. So whenever she’s been in the hotel, she’s bore witness to whatever floats her classmates’ boats, so to speak. Some of them are pretty self explanatory- Kaito, for example, is a competitive person, and at his heart he likely craves a relationship with somebody who he’s been neck and neck with all his life. She didn’t stick around long enough to see Kokichi’s, but she heard something about… detectives? Phantom Thieves? Whatever, he’d probably be more interested in Shuichi, anyway.But that means that whatever Shuichi is about to say, it’s in accordance with what he desires deep inside of himself.---Kaede visits the Love Hotel and sees Shuichi's fantasy. It's not quite what some would expect.(Alternatively: My headcanon Love Hotel scene for Shuichi.)





	I'd like to know you.

Kaede opens her eyes, blinking dizzily, and for a moment she isn’t sure where she is. The expanse of warm colours around her and the pleasant floral smell of the room doesn’t really add up to her bedroom at the academy. Plus, it’s way too warm in here for her to…

Ah, that’s right. The Love Key.

She got one at the casino several weeks ago, and she wasn’t really intending on using it, except that Monokuma ended up popping up in her room every night until she finally said “screw it” and fell asleep with the thing in her hand. The result was that she ended up kicking Korekiyo in the nuts and waking up in her bed, sweaty and confused, but as much as the encounter was  _ scarring  _ she felt disinclined to stop using it. So she bought another key.

It’s not like she’s been using them  _ every  _ night- Kaede rather likes sleeping, thank you very much- but she’s certainly been rather intrigued by them ever since she got to cuddle with Maki two weeks ago. It was nice, and definitely not something she would’ve gotten to do otherwise, so she’s been using them pretty frequently since. She hasn’t spent the night in here with all of her classmates; some of them, like Kokichi, she’s immediately noped out of there before they could even say a word (Kaede cares more about feeling safe and comfortable than she does about giving her classmates a good night of sleep) but she’s certainly done so with a majority of them.

And some of them she’s even been in here with  _ twice.  _ Well, a few times, actually. She hasn’t minded petting Himiko’s head until she fell asleep, or having a hugging competition with Tenko more than once, but she’s starting to get tired of in some way brutalising Korekiyo before he can even think about taking out that dumb rope of his. Damn him and his stupid bondage fantasy- Kaede wants no part of it, especially not from someone as creepy as him!

But she hasn’t been here with everybody she’s wanted to be here with. First of all, Kirumi, and she really wants to be in here with Kirumi for uh, unspecified reasons, but also… she’s been hoping, the past couple nights, to see Shuichi. Not that she has any particular desire to figure out his deepest, darkest fantasies. It’s not that at all! She doesn’t want to violate his privacy! It’s just that… well, she’d like to get closer to him, is all. Besides, she figures if there’s anyone she’d wanna spend this kind of time with… it would be Shuichi, wouldn’t it?

At any rate, she’s here now. When she looks up from where she’s leaning against one of the many dressers in the room, she’s half expecting to see one of the people she’s spent more time with in here. Instead, though, when her eyes flit around the room, they meet a pair of grey ones, and her heart skips a beat.

“Ah, Akamatsu,” Shuichi looks nervous; he’s fidgeting with a couple buttons on his jacket, smiling in that anxious way he does whenever she speaks to him. She smiles instinctively upon seeing him, in a meager attempt to help his nerves settle, despite the fact that her own heart is drumming up a storm in her chest. “Thank you for coming- I, ah, know I asked you pretty short notice.”

From what Kaede understands of the Love Hotel, the way it works is that it puts the key-holder in a scenario where they’re in the other person’s fantasy. So whenever she’s been in the hotel, she’s bore witness to whatever floats her classmates’ boats, so to speak. Some of them are pretty self explanatory- Kaito, for example, is a competitive person, and at his heart he likely craves a relationship with somebody who he’s been neck and neck with all his life. She didn’t stick around long enough to see Kokichi’s, but she heard something about… detectives? Phantom Thieves? Whatever, he’d probably be more interested in Shuichi, anyway.

But that means that whatever Shuichi is about to say, it’s in accordance with what he desires deep inside of himself. That could be anything from hand holding, like with Kiibo, or hardcore sex, which she received with Miu. (It was pretty excellent.) She’s certain that Shuichi doesn’t fantasise about anything so outlandish, but… she’d never have any way of knowing. After all, it’s always the quiet ones who are the weirdest, right? She figures that no matter  _ what  _ Shuichi shows her, she’s not going to judge him for it, because she likes him well enough to stick around this long, right? But… well, if it turns out he’s a furry like Himiko, then she might judge him a little bit, but not too much! She’s his friend, after all!   
  


Still, she’d better play along. At the moment it doesn’t seem like anything weird, probably just that he asked her to meet him, or something. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind!” She tells him brightly, and Shuichi’s expression relaxes a little, but because it’s Shuichi, she adds, “This is a pretty weird place to meet, though.” And he looks around, face flushing. He reaches up and grabs the brim of his hat, tugging it down over his eyes.  _ Haha.  _ It’s a bit mean, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t think it’s cute.

“R-Right, sorry, I really don’t intend on asking about any of that, so don’t worry.” Aw, Kaede’s a little disappointed about that! (She’s kidding, of course; she’s actually really grateful that he’s not about to ask her for any weird, kinky sex stuff.) “Uhm, so,” he pauses, then takes a deep breath. With the hand that he’s still holding his hat with, he curls his fingers around the brim and pulls it off his head.

Kaede can’t help that her eyes widen a little when he does so. She’s never seen him without his hat before. He always seems too nervous to take it off, and she’s asked him about it, but he hasn’t really said anything of substance in response. She knows it’s because he doesn’t feel comfortable looking people in the eye, but it still makes her sad to see him hiding his eyes like that. Now that he’s taken it off, she can see both of his grey eyes fully, and the small piece of hair that sticks up in the middle of his head, just like in hers. The tips of his ears redden slightly, likely due to embarrassment, but she’s not focusing on that. Shuichi takes a deep breath.

“I wanted to talk to you- uhm, that’s why I called you here, obviously- about- well- it’s kind of awkward to just say,” Shuichi laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that isn’t holding his hat and averting his gaze. Kaede hums, wondering if he’s really so nervous that he can be anxious like this in his own fantasy.

“Maybe give a bit of background, first?” She suggests softly, partly in the interest of following along with the supposed storyline, but also because she wants to make Shuichi feel more comfortable.

“Y-Yeah, of course,” Shuichi agrees, nodding. “Uhm, you’ve always been there for me. I mean, I think I’ve told you that before, but- I mean, for as long as we’ve been friends, you know, it’s sort of been like you’ve been holding me up, y’know? And I know you don’t see it that way,” he adds, spreading his hands, as though to stop her from interrupting. “But I’ve always felt like… you’re just always there for me. No matter what.”

“Aw, Saihara…” Kaede trails off, smiling. He’s really so sweet, is his fantasy a confession or something? That’s so cute, he even took off his hat. Shuichi really is a sweet guy, huh?

Shuichi’s face reddens further but he continues. “Do you- uhm- do you remember that time, after my first case, when I was feeling down about closing it?” So perhaps it’s a childhood friend type scenario? Kaede can get behind that, Maki and Miu had something similar as well. She knows the case he’s talking about, though- or at least, she thinks she does.

“Yeah, where the culprit killed for a loved one who was being abused, right?” Kaede guesses, and Shuichi nods, fiddling with his hat, which he is currently holding against his chest.

“It’s the reason I wear this hat, why I don’t take it off unless I’m around you.” Ah, so maybe the taking off the hat thing wasn’t a big deal for him, here? It makes sense that Shuichi’s ideal partner would be somebody who he’s already comfortable enough with to take his hat off around. Kaede is pretty sure he doesn’t have a childhood friend like that, though, it’s kind of sad to think about. She nods though, waiting for him to continue. “A-And, uhm, do you remember how- uh,” his face flushes again, and he stares hard at the opposite wall. “You played the piano to calm me down?”

Wow.  _ Wow.  _ Hold up. Hold  _ up. _

It’s possible that Shuichi is just interested in people who are musically talented, or something, but that’s way too specific for Kaede to overlook it. Played the piano? She’s been learning a thing or two about the times she’s been spending with people in here, and she thinks as a general rule of thumb that unless they describe actual physical characteristics of hers, they’re likely not really talking about  _ her.  _ It’s something she doesn’t mind in the slightest, really. Still, though, she can’t just ignore the fact that Shuichi just said something about the piano. That- can’t be a coincidence, right? Because… if that’s the case… Kaede feels her face starting to burn, her heartbeat returning to its previous fast pace. Does that mean that Shuichi might…

“Uh-huh,” Kaede manages weakly. “I remember.”

“Well, I…” Shuichi takes a breath. “Whenever we’re spending time together, it always feels like it’s you being there for me, or we’re talking about me somehow, and- uhm- I don’t mind that, I really appreciate that you’re always here for me, but…” he meets her eyes now, gaze awfully confident by comparison to the face he was making a moment ago. “I want to be there for you, once in a while, you know?” Kaede feels like her brain is about to stop functioning. “S-So, if you’d like, I… I would really like it if we could talk about you for once.”

“Talk about me?” Kaede echoes, feeling lost.

“Y-Yeah, if you’re alright with it, I’d like… to spend some time talking about the things that are important to you.” Shuichi puts his hat to the side, moves closer to her until he’s standing about a foot away. “Aside from the piano, I want to know… I want to know more of what you’re thinking, what your fears are and what makes you happy. I want to know how I can be there for you in the way that you’ve been there for me.” Tentatively, he reaches out and tucks a stray strand of hair behind Kaede’s ear, his touch leaving a burning imprint on her skin. “I’d like to know you, Kaede,” he says quietly, and Kaede’s heart stops working, because  _ he used her given name.  _ She feels like her knees are weak, like she’s going to fall into pieces in front of him.

Despite herself, she asks, “Why? Why do you want to know me? I don’t really think I’m that special,” she adds the second part in a mumble, pulling her gaze away from his, but Shuichi’s thumb brushes over her cheek bone, and she finds herself tugged in to meet his eyes again. His grey hues are smoldering, an odd mix of tenderness and passion she’s never seen from him before. It’s definitely because of the Love Hotel, there’s no way he’d ever get that confident in real life, but still.  _ But still.  _ He…

“I wish you could see you the way that I see you,” he murmurs, and his lips tilt up at the sides in a small smile. “Then I think you’d know exactly why I want to know everything about you.”

Kaede’s dead now, she’s dead, she’s gone, she’s absolutely perishing. She sucks in a breath, trying to calm down her heart and stop her cheeks from burning so much, but it doesn’t help at all. She closes her eyes for a moment, attempting to recollect herself. Even if this is his fantasy, Shuichi is probably right that she wouldn’t talk about herself much. She prefers not to, is all. Not because she has anything to hide, she just… she wants to focus on helping other people, and her problems would just weigh them down. Besides that, she also tends to get way too excited about the things that she’s passionate about, and it can scare people off. The last thing she wants is for that to happen with Shuichi. She doesn’t want to lose him.

Even so, he’s… not gonna remember this in the morning, right? If she does things right, then… he’ll just wake up happy, not knowing why. (For some reason the thought makes her sad.) Regardless of how it makes her feel, she won’t have anything to lose if she just tells him about some of it, right? Because… he won’t remember. And he wants to hear it anyway.

Plus, if there’s anyone Kaede would want to tell that stuff to… it would be the detective standing in front of her.

“O-Okay,” she finds the strength to say, looking up and meeting his eyes. “Okay. I’ll… tell you about myself, then, if you… really wanna know.” Kaede hesitates, even though she knows Shuichi wouldn’t lie to her about what he wants in this setting. “But, if I talk too much, or something, and you don’t want to know anymore, then-”

“Ah, I don’t think that’s possible,” Shuichi tells her, and his smile grows in confidence. “I think no matter what you tell me, I’ll be happy to hear it.”

With that encouragement to fuel her, Kaede reaches up to take the hand that’s currently cupping her face and laces their fingers together. She allows their joined hands to fall to her side, squeezing tight, and Shuichi squeezes back. Knowing he’s there to stabilise her, Kaede takes a deep breath, and starts to talk.

After breakfast, that morning, Kaede finds herself sitting in her room, looking at the spare Love Keys she bought at the casino before seeing Shuichi in the hotel. She was prepared to keep trying until she got Kirumi, because she really did want to get Kirumi, but… now that she thinks about it…

Kaede gets to her feet, slipping out from her room and down the hall. She hasn’t seen Shuichi yet today (he usually doesn’t show up to breakfast) but she’s not going to see him yet. No, she has a couple other people in mind. First and foremost she sticks her head into Korekiyo’s lab, delighting at the fact that he’s there, and calls out to him. He seems happy to see her, which almost makes her feel bad considering what she’s planning, but it doesn’t put a damper on her mood. They talk for a bit, and she hands him one of the keys; he looks intrigued by it and thanks her sincerely, which perhaps is the wrong reaction to what she just gave him, but whatever. She ignores the thought and leaves the lab, heading towards the stairs to get to Kaito’s.

In Kaito’s lab, both Kokichi and Kaito are hanging around- Kaito because it’s his lab, Kokichi because he’s there to annoy Kaito, so Kaede doesn’t have much of a difficult time dumping off two of the remaining keys on them. Kokichi looks at the key warily, says something about Shuichi giving it to him (and Kaede laughs, because the little shit deserves it) but Kaito beams and thanks her for the gift. That also makes her feel kinda bad, since Kaito’s a nice guy, but whatever. It’s just a prank, anyway.

She gives the last key to Miu- not out of a particular desire to prank her, but because she figures Miu would enjoy it. The inventor pretends not to be stoked about receiving a present but she can’t hide her excitement very well, and Kaede is in high spirits exiting the other blonde girl’s lab.

Now that she’s gotten rid of her keys, she has one last stop to make. She stops by the girls bathroom on the first floor of the school, checking on her hair even though it looks the same as always. She doubts it’ll make a difference to Shuichi, but she still wants to make sure. Once she’s sure everything looks as nice as she can get it to look, she heads back to the dormitories, walking quickly to Shuichi’s door and ringing the door bell. She hopes he’s in there; she’d hate to have to go and track him down.

Thankfully, the door opens a moment later, and reveals Shuichi standing on the other side, hat in hand. His eyes widen when he sees her but he smiles nervously, placing his hat on his head. “Ah, uhm, good morning, Akamatsu.”

“Barely.” She giggles. “It’s almost noon.”

“R-Really?” Shuichi looks behind himself into the room, presumably at the clock he as in there. “Ah… so it is… I’m sorry, I slept in later than usual.” He’s smiling sheepishly at her when he turns back around, pulling his hat down over his eyes in what has become a familiar gesture to Kaede. “What is it? Did you need something?”

Kaede takes a breath, and then smiles at him. “Not really, I just wanted to see you.” Shuichi’s eyes widen even more; his face flushes, though with embarrassment or with something else, Kaede can’t ascertain at the moment. But she intends to. “Can you come somewhere with me, Saihara? I wanna spend some time with you.”   
  


Shuichi looks at her strangely, like he’s sizing her up, but eventually nods, a smaller smile creeping over his expression. “Alright, I’d be happy to… where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Kaede reaches out and takes one of his hands in hers. The resulting noise of surprise Shuichi makes is cute, and it makes her smile a bit more, but she doesn’t comment for the sake of not flustering him more. “C’mon, let’s go!”

With that, Kaede pulls Shuichi along behind her, starting in the direction of her lab. “Ah- wait, Akamatsu, I didn’t lock my door!” Shuichi tells her this, but he doesn’t let go of her hand, nor does he stop walking, so she figures it’s not that urgent. She just shoots him a smile over her shoulder before she continues to walk, fully intending on spending as much of her time in this place with him as she can. After all, she doesn’t know if Shuichi simply has a taste for pianists, or if he has feelings for her, but either way… the odds are tipped in her favour, aren’t they?  


**Author's Note:**

> oh my god they're so straight it's a bit disgusting tbh
> 
> in other news, hi, I love them and nobody can take them from me. they deserve the world
> 
> I wasn't sure whether to write this from Kaede's perspective or someone else's? TBH I think it's pretty canon that Shuichi had the hots for her, but depending on which part of the story it takes place in and who's actually in the hotel I think he could've included any arbitrary detail about just about any member of the cast
> 
> because I ship Shuichi with all of these motherfuckers
> 
> except Tenko because she's a lesbi[REDACTED]
> 
> anyway I hope y'all enjoyed this,,, obnoxiously fluffy shit. I feel like I have to write a bunch of really sweet stuff to make up for what's going on in my other stories rn
> 
> leave a comment if you feel so inclined :3


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